Banglas created the biggest upset in the history of ODIs when they defeated the World Champions in 2005.
If they do it again, it will be the cream on top of the thrilling world cup cake we have had so far!
Of course, Australians had played meekly in that game with Gilchrist falling for a duck and Ponting scoring only 1 off 16 balls he faced(Can you believe it?) - Aussie attack was led by Kasprowitz and Gillespie and admittedly, it was not the best team they could have played. Symonds was punished and dropped for drinking a lot earlier night and Lee was injured. Still, Aussies managed a 249 which was tough for any opposition considering Aussie defense.
Mohd Ashraful, will he ever forget that match in his whole life??? Who will?
He scored a maiden century to take his team to unbelievable victory!!!
If there was a time that I liked Ponting, it was here when he said after the match "This is probably one of the biggest upsets in the history of cricket, and my worst defeat as captain."
If only Indians were so open in admitting their own failures as players and captains, we would have respected them more.
Go Bangladesh, Go!!! Feel the "Deja Vu!"
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
England vs Ireland!
(Updates below)
While the Aussies dominated the West Indies team, SL and SA fought tooth and nail in the first matches of Super 8.
We now come to a low-key England vurses a highly motivated Ireland match what promises to be a No-Pushover match.
The Irish O'Brians will fight it out against the Collingwoods and Pietersons.
England don't look too good in their batting or bowling, and to call them inconsistent will be an understatement.
Are we in for another upset??? Or will the English team get its act together?
Update 1: England managed a slightly worrying victory over a determined Ireland. Things do NOT look for England and it looks like we will have a new European Champion soon. Go Ireland!
While the Aussies dominated the West Indies team, SL and SA fought tooth and nail in the first matches of Super 8.
We now come to a low-key England vurses a highly motivated Ireland match what promises to be a No-Pushover match.
The Irish O'Brians will fight it out against the Collingwoods and Pietersons.
England don't look too good in their batting or bowling, and to call them inconsistent will be an understatement.
Are we in for another upset??? Or will the English team get its act together?
Update 1: England managed a slightly worrying victory over a determined Ireland. Things do NOT look for England and it looks like we will have a new European Champion soon. Go Ireland!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Malinga Almost Pulls It Off!
Oh Man, what a match !!!! It was a match of nerves towards the end!!!
Not many heart patients would have survived this one. The best match of the tournament so far !!!
At one point in time, only 4 runs were required by SA with 8 overs & 5 wickets in hand and all of a sudden Lasith Malinga takes 4 wickets in 4 balls!!!
Simply unbelievable stuff!!!
Malinga was 4 -0-37-0 at one time, then 7.4-0-49-0 and suddenly his figures looked as 8.2 -0-49-4!
SA were under tremendous pressure all of a sudden with only 1 wicket remaining and 3 runs required in 3 more overs !!! And Lasith Malinga and Chaminda Vaas were bowling nothing but poison at the speed of 140+ at the batsmen!!!
Misses, appeals and more misses and more appeals followed.
A scrappy and chancy maiden by Vaas and it was all getting too close to breathe.
And then Malinga comes in to bowl the 49th over and an edge past second slip secures the victory for SA....
phew... the 'Chokers' managed not to choke this time, but what a hum-dinger of a match!!!!!
Hats off to the fighting spirit of the Lankans and to the stoic and resolute effort by Kallis! He was a villain against the Aussies, but a true hero here! Malinga almost stole the thunder under Kallis's feet, but it was not to be.
The blame for defeat should be taken by Mahela for bringing Murali late and then for replacing him with other bowlers mid-way through his magical spells.
But Sri Lankans can only hold their heads high after the defeat for their amazing and unbelievable fight!!!
MoM was the unlikely Charl Langeveldt who wonderfully bowled in the morning to take 5 SL wickets. It could very well have been Lasith Malinga had he taken one more wicket today...
But ifs and buts have no meaning in the life, do they?
The point to ponder over is that with stalwarts like Pollock, Ntini, Murali, Vaas, Jayasuriya, Sangakarra, Kallis, Smith, Gibbs etc., who would have thought that a Malinga / Langeveldt could have been the possible man of the match candidate???
Take a bow, spirit of the game!
Not many heart patients would have survived this one. The best match of the tournament so far !!!
At one point in time, only 4 runs were required by SA with 8 overs & 5 wickets in hand and all of a sudden Lasith Malinga takes 4 wickets in 4 balls!!!
Simply unbelievable stuff!!!
Malinga was 4 -0-37-0 at one time, then 7.4-0-49-0 and suddenly his figures looked as 8.2 -0-49-4!
SA were under tremendous pressure all of a sudden with only 1 wicket remaining and 3 runs required in 3 more overs !!! And Lasith Malinga and Chaminda Vaas were bowling nothing but poison at the speed of 140+ at the batsmen!!!
Misses, appeals and more misses and more appeals followed.
A scrappy and chancy maiden by Vaas and it was all getting too close to breathe.
And then Malinga comes in to bowl the 49th over and an edge past second slip secures the victory for SA....
phew... the 'Chokers' managed not to choke this time, but what a hum-dinger of a match!!!!!
Hats off to the fighting spirit of the Lankans and to the stoic and resolute effort by Kallis! He was a villain against the Aussies, but a true hero here! Malinga almost stole the thunder under Kallis's feet, but it was not to be.
The blame for defeat should be taken by Mahela for bringing Murali late and then for replacing him with other bowlers mid-way through his magical spells.
But Sri Lankans can only hold their heads high after the defeat for their amazing and unbelievable fight!!!
MoM was the unlikely Charl Langeveldt who wonderfully bowled in the morning to take 5 SL wickets. It could very well have been Lasith Malinga had he taken one more wicket today...
But ifs and buts have no meaning in the life, do they?
The point to ponder over is that with stalwarts like Pollock, Ntini, Murali, Vaas, Jayasuriya, Sangakarra, Kallis, Smith, Gibbs etc., who would have thought that a Malinga / Langeveldt could have been the possible man of the match candidate???
Take a bow, spirit of the game!
Is Mahela Jayawardhane Deaf?
(Updates below)
No really, is he?
South Africa have raced away to 76/1 from just 14 overs attempting to win over a score of measly 209 runs.
Everyone knows that Murali's magic alone can save SL from a certain loss.
I am asking him to bowl Muralidharan.
Commentrators are asking him to bowl Muralidharan.
The whole stadium is asking him to bowl Muralidharan.
The whole Sri Lanka is asking him to bowl Muralidharan.
But Mahela persists with Malinga for 15th over and gets punished for 11 runs more. 87/1 in 15!!!
Mahela cannot hear or what? Or is he afraid that his most potent weapon will be hit for sixes in the first 15 overs???
C'mon! Give the great man some respect he deserves, Mahela.
OK, don't give him respect, just give him the damn ball, will ya?
Update 1: On second ball of his second over Murali gets marauding Smith out for 59 off 65 balls! Vindication comes often accompanied by joy! :-)
No really, is he?
South Africa have raced away to 76/1 from just 14 overs attempting to win over a score of measly 209 runs.
Everyone knows that Murali's magic alone can save SL from a certain loss.
I am asking him to bowl Muralidharan.
Commentrators are asking him to bowl Muralidharan.
The whole stadium is asking him to bowl Muralidharan.
The whole Sri Lanka is asking him to bowl Muralidharan.
But Mahela persists with Malinga for 15th over and gets punished for 11 runs more. 87/1 in 15!!!
Mahela cannot hear or what? Or is he afraid that his most potent weapon will be hit for sixes in the first 15 overs???
C'mon! Give the great man some respect he deserves, Mahela.
OK, don't give him respect, just give him the damn ball, will ya?
Update 1: On second ball of his second over Murali gets marauding Smith out for 59 off 65 balls! Vindication comes often accompanied by joy! :-)
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
What A Day at the WC
Wow! Australia playing West Indies and South Africa playing Sri Lanka today!!!! It is going to be one hell of a day for cricket fans.
By the looks of it, going by the current progress, World no.1 and 2 are clearly dominating their opponents and the opponents are not putting up the expected fight.
But still, with 3 wickets of SL and WI gone, the fight is now left to Sangakarra/Silva and Lara/Sarwan against SA and Aussies respectively !
In my view, the only man who can stop South Africans from beating Sri Lanka is going to be Murali. And by the looks of it , Aussies will win this one without much of a fight from WI.
But as they say, "it's not all over, till it's all over!"
Let us see whether results are as predicted, or the game springs another surprise on us!
By the looks of it, going by the current progress, World no.1 and 2 are clearly dominating their opponents and the opponents are not putting up the expected fight.
But still, with 3 wickets of SL and WI gone, the fight is now left to Sangakarra/Silva and Lara/Sarwan against SA and Aussies respectively !
In my view, the only man who can stop South Africans from beating Sri Lanka is going to be Murali. And by the looks of it , Aussies will win this one without much of a fight from WI.
But as they say, "it's not all over, till it's all over!"
Let us see whether results are as predicted, or the game springs another surprise on us!
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Matthew Hayden
What a Fantabulllastistic Player!
He surely is lighting up the World Cup 2007 like Sachin Tendulkar did in 2003!
Already 2 back-to-back record breaking tremendous centuries in this world cup -the one which promises to be the last one - for the 35 years old.
He debuted for Australia in 1993-94, but was not on a major cricketing radar till the path-breaking tour of India where he amassed a record-breaking 549 runs in 3 match series! (Indian bowlers have always had this knack of getting the other sides' batsmen into form, but that topic will be dealt separately) - And he went on and on breaking all kinds of records, proving that it was not a flash in the pan!
He broke Lara's record of maximum runs in test cricket by hitting 380, for a while, till the great Lara took it back again! He held the maximum runs scored by Australian in a year, till Ponting took it over from him.
But here is a man, who has 20 test centuries from just 55 matches!
A big man, who plays big innings and in big matches!
Raising a toast to this Big Man of Cricket - Will he be the World Cup Player of 2007?
He surely is lighting up the World Cup 2007 like Sachin Tendulkar did in 2003!
Already 2 back-to-back record breaking tremendous centuries in this world cup -the one which promises to be the last one - for the 35 years old.
He debuted for Australia in 1993-94, but was not on a major cricketing radar till the path-breaking tour of India where he amassed a record-breaking 549 runs in 3 match series! (Indian bowlers have always had this knack of getting the other sides' batsmen into form, but that topic will be dealt separately) - And he went on and on breaking all kinds of records, proving that it was not a flash in the pan!
He broke Lara's record of maximum runs in test cricket by hitting 380, for a while, till the great Lara took it back again! He held the maximum runs scored by Australian in a year, till Ponting took it over from him.
But here is a man, who has 20 test centuries from just 55 matches!
A big man, who plays big innings and in big matches!
Raising a toast to this Big Man of Cricket - Will he be the World Cup Player of 2007?
India: What Next?
What next????
The Heads Must Roll!
For last 4 years, every failure faced by Indian team was justified in the name of World Cup 2007. They said "Don't worry about these losses, these are experiments, our only aim is victory in WC 2007!" And we, quintessential fools that we are, believed in it!
Now that the ultimate aim has gone down the Caribbean drains, it is time to roll some heads!
Time for these to go is NOW:
Greg Chapell (Resign as coach)
Rahul Dravid (Resign as captain, stay in Test Team)
Sachin Tendulkar (Resign from the game)
Sourav Ganguly (Resign from the game)
Anil Kumble (Resign from ODIs)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni(Keep him out for some time and get Kartik in)
Harbhajan Singh (Sack him!)
Virender Sehwag (Keep him on the fence, keep a sword hanging over his head)
Let us take some harsh decisions today, let us not sit on legacy of these one-time great players, that legacy doesn't help us anymore in the games that we play next!
Let us not think who can fill in Sachin Tendulkar's shoes? Give someone a chance at least!
Big gains come with big risks!
Let us re-build our cricket, our system, our selections - let us make Indian cricket the competitive one . The one that Aussies would like to compete with!
The Heads Must Roll!
For last 4 years, every failure faced by Indian team was justified in the name of World Cup 2007. They said "Don't worry about these losses, these are experiments, our only aim is victory in WC 2007!" And we, quintessential fools that we are, believed in it!
Now that the ultimate aim has gone down the Caribbean drains, it is time to roll some heads!
Time for these to go is NOW:
Greg Chapell (Resign as coach)
Rahul Dravid (Resign as captain, stay in Test Team)
Sachin Tendulkar (Resign from the game)
Sourav Ganguly (Resign from the game)
Anil Kumble (Resign from ODIs)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni(Keep him out for some time and get Kartik in)
Harbhajan Singh (Sack him!)
Virender Sehwag (Keep him on the fence, keep a sword hanging over his head)
Let us take some harsh decisions today, let us not sit on legacy of these one-time great players, that legacy doesn't help us anymore in the games that we play next!
Let us not think who can fill in Sachin Tendulkar's shoes? Give someone a chance at least!
Big gains come with big risks!
Let us re-build our cricket, our system, our selections - let us make Indian cricket the competitive one . The one that Aussies would like to compete with!
(Image Source: Cricinfo)
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